Those amps look very well made. You made it sound like a really nice Fender combo just by hooking up that capacitor again, the previous tone was like my pals old AC30 top boost which never had a valve changed for 40 years but had that big warm tone(at full blast volume). Great video, it's good to see inside these boxes at-least to see how much effort goes into the layout and design. Seems like everything is based on a Vox, Fender, Marshall,Hiwatt, Orange foundation but some of em have improved on them a lot. There are lot of really great Guitar amps available and at the same time a lot of total crudd too. It took me a while to remember what the older Geezers used to bore with;" Keep it simple stupid" , less to go wrong, if I would have taken heed I would have saved a lot of time and dough wasted on gadgets just to get a sound that I already had but only needed a new Valve or 2...maybe a speaker too. Thanks for sharing your skills, don't underestimate how much better the customer feels when he gets his amp back to the band/studio and finds out how much better the music is after all the work you did.
Hi Lyle. Great work as usual👍🏽 A tip for 15 watt Matchlesses: For some unknown reason Matchless has decided to have an impedance-mismatch in their output transformers. So they always have a plate to plate-load of 4k Ohms, regardless if they’re running four or only two EL84s in the output stage. If the amp has an 8 Ohm speaker, the tubes will live happier and sound better, if you compensate for this mismatch by connecting it to the 4 Ohm tap on the transformer. Personally, I think - judging from the clip - that the bright cap was a bit too “effective” 😉 I would probably go with a lower value cap or perhaps a series resistor between the cap and the pot. But as always this is down to personal taste. Keep up the spirit and the good work👍🏽😉
The component layout is probably quite well thought because there is very little wire spaghetti all over the place to collect hum and noise. Mainly just component leads from point to point. Nice, I like that. Of course it is not a hyper gain multistage cascaded multichannel amp, so amount of wiring is quite minimal anyways.
I built a Spitfire clone for a guy a few yeas ago. Really cool sound out of the thing. It had a really great glassy, Voxy vibe. I had no idea Matchless used one, two and three watt carbon comp resistors in their amps. Those look like genuine Allen-Bradley’s too. The typical values in those resistors are unobtanium these days.
Have you, or will you post any Fryette, or Fryette era VHT repairs or walk throughs? That would be fascinating! Fryette is very outspoken about his methods and tight with schematics.
Oh yeah! Highlights were only ever seen by me at the pediatrician's office and the dentist's office waiting rooms. Good ol' Goofus & Gallant and how about "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE" from Highlights? We play that one a few times a day on my bench.
Is the way that those input resistors are directly mounted from the input jack to a tagstrip alright? Will that not cause an accidental loss of signal if the input jack comes loose and spins, possibly pulling the resistors out of its solder joint?
The mic position may of been different after you re-attached the bright cap vs after the mods cause it sounded more harmonic compared to the later sound test. If not maybe it’s the sound of running the tubes dangerously hot creating it.
First pat of the video was with my shop cab aimed more at my/the mic’s position. Bright cap was Matchless cab/speaker off axis. You’ll get to hear the real sound soon.
Just curious. Why doesn’t anyone use a pot for adjustable cathode bias? Like put a minimum 80 or 100ohm resistor and then like a 200 ohm wire wound pot?
Think it’s something to do with the reliability of the pot being affected. A better method is to wire a pot as a variable resistor in series with the cathode bypass, this varies the amount of bypass, effectively gives the same gain boosting effect, but there’s less dc load on the pot.
I've never understood why some people immediately cut the bright cap in their amps, especially without first trying a different speaker. To my ears cutting the bright cap is like throwing a blanket over your amp. It takes away all the character of the amp, and a lot of times its ability to cut through a mix or band. Just turn down the treble pot, people!
Spitfire is a great name for a fighter plane. For an amp, not-so-much. The visual image that name evokes isn't something I'd want from any electronics. Just sayin' ...
Sounds beautiful. Great job.
Nice tour of the Matchless Spitfire. Looks like great build quality. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic transformation in tone! Expensive amps, but sweet. Now, about that Excalibre 15??
Those amps look very well made. You made it sound like a really nice Fender combo just by hooking up that capacitor again, the previous tone was like my pals old AC30 top boost which never had a valve changed for 40 years but had that big warm tone(at full blast volume). Great video, it's good to see inside these boxes at-least to see how much effort goes into the layout and design. Seems like everything is based on a Vox, Fender, Marshall,Hiwatt, Orange foundation but some of em have improved on them a lot. There are lot of really great Guitar amps available and at the same time a lot of total crudd too. It took me a while to remember what the older Geezers used to bore with;" Keep it simple stupid" , less to go wrong, if I would have taken heed I would have saved a lot of time and dough wasted on gadgets just to get a sound that I already had but only needed a new Valve or 2...maybe a speaker too. Thanks for sharing your skills, don't underestimate how much better the customer feels when he gets his amp back to the band/studio and finds out how much better the music is after all the work you did.
What a beautiful sounding amp
outstanding tone on that amp.
"Goofus and Gallant"! Yes, I remember!
Hi Lyle. Great work as usual👍🏽 A tip for 15 watt Matchlesses: For some unknown reason Matchless has decided to have an impedance-mismatch in their output transformers. So they always have a plate to plate-load of 4k Ohms, regardless if they’re running four or only two EL84s in the output stage. If the amp has an 8 Ohm speaker, the tubes will live happier and sound better, if you compensate for this mismatch by connecting it to the 4 Ohm tap on the transformer.
Personally, I think - judging from the clip - that the bright cap was a bit too “effective” 😉 I would probably go with a lower value cap or perhaps a series resistor between the cap and the pot. But as always this is down to personal taste.
Keep up the spirit and the good work👍🏽😉
I'm one of those people. Thanks for posting
Thanks for the video as always :-)
Thats crazy 16w on them tubes ! WOWZA! Tubes are not gonna last long like that.
Awesome speaker connections there before ya fixed it haha !
ty
Nice amp. Looking forward to the surgery on this baby.
The component layout is probably quite well thought because there is very little wire spaghetti all over the place to collect hum and noise. Mainly just component leads from point to point. Nice, I like that. Of course it is not a hyper gain multistage cascaded multichannel amp, so amount of wiring is quite minimal anyways.
I built a Spitfire clone for a guy a few yeas ago. Really cool sound out of the thing. It had a really great glassy, Voxy vibe.
I had no idea Matchless used one, two and three watt carbon comp resistors in their amps. Those look like genuine Allen-Bradley’s too. The typical values in those resistors are unobtanium these days.
Yeah, but they use them in the power supply, and they do what CCs do there.
This amp sounds like it would be great for some blues from the 70's in the style of Albert King and BB King.
Nice amp, I built a clone, I love your videos, please what component goes into the master volume potentiometer?
He'll probably like it better now.
Have you, or will you post any Fryette, or Fryette era VHT repairs or walk throughs? That would be fascinating! Fryette is very outspoken about his methods and tight with schematics.
If any come in.
Oh yeah! Highlights were only ever seen by me at the pediatrician's office and the dentist's office waiting rooms. Good ol' Goofus & Gallant and how about "WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE" from Highlights? We play that one a few times a day on my bench.
Is the way that those input resistors are directly mounted from the input jack to a tagstrip alright? Will that not cause an accidental loss of signal if the input jack comes loose and spins, possibly pulling the resistors out of its solder joint?
Almost want to wire lights into all my chassis so have light built in😂
School is in session.
The mic position may of been different after you re-attached the bright cap vs after the mods cause it sounded more harmonic compared to the later sound test. If not maybe it’s the sound of running the tubes dangerously hot creating it.
First pat of the video was with my shop cab aimed more at my/the mic’s position. Bright cap was Matchless cab/speaker off axis. You’ll get to hear the real sound soon.
I'm going to guess 165 ohms for the bias resistance.
Q: What's with the insulation between the filter caps and chassis? Support for the caps? Mitigate heat?
Yep, support for the caps so their mass doesn't break the leads or solder joints.
Cool looking design 😎👍
Did client know about the bright cap disconnect?
Glad it's reconnected. 😎👍❤🖖
He said the owner didn't know.
@@HandWiredAmps
Thanks 😎👍
Would reducing the screen voltage help with the hot bias and high plate voltage?
A bit yeah. But I’m not doing anything major here.
@@PsionicAudio Thanks
Just curious. Why doesn’t anyone use a pot for adjustable cathode bias? Like put a minimum 80 or 100ohm resistor and then like a 200 ohm wire wound pot?
Think it’s something to do with the reliability of the pot being affected. A better method is to wire a pot as a variable resistor in series with the cathode bypass, this varies the amount of bypass, effectively gives the same gain boosting effect, but there’s less dc load on the pot.
What kind of strings does Psionc Audio use? When playing Gibsons?
NY XL 10-46
@@PsionicAudio Nice. I used to use those too... until I tried a set of Curt Mangan pure nickels.... oh man.
I use CMs on my acoustics.
Carbon Comp resistors?.....arrgh.
I was amazed that the amp was as quiet as it was with the CCs in there - so they've got that going for them.
Custom capacitors...VERY expensive custom transformers...
Never having heard of Matchless _Amplifiers_ , I was about to ask if they required Whitworth tools...but then I looked it up.
I've never understood why some people immediately cut the bright cap in their amps, especially without first trying a different speaker. To my ears cutting the bright cap is like throwing a blanket over your amp. It takes away all the character of the amp, and a lot of times its ability to cut through a mix or band.
Just turn down the treble pot, people!
Spitfire is a great name for a fighter plane. For an amp, not-so-much. The visual image that name evokes isn't something I'd want from any electronics. Just sayin' ...